Chuck Sweeny: Rockford still won't let Rep. John Cabello work as a cop

Saturday

May 31, 2014 at 6:17 PMMay 31, 2014 at 6:17 PM

by Chuck SweenyRockford Register Star

John Cabello is a Rockford police officer. He’s also state representative for the 68th District, appointed in August 2012 to fill a vacancy, then elected that November.

Since then, City Hall has not allowed him to work as a cop.

The Republican is seeking re-election in November in a Republican district. He’s a shoo-in.

Cabello has been on unpaid leave granted by the Rockford Board of Fire and Police Commissioners. Why?

The 1970 Illinois Constitution says only: “No member of the General Assembly shall receive compensation as a public officer or employee from any other governmental entity for time during which he is in attendance as a member of the General Assembly.”

Cabello has been “in attendance as a member of the General Assembly” for 53 days this year. The Legislature ended its spring session Saturday; it may have a short veto session in the fall.

So Cabello is available for most of the year to work at his police job. That is what he wants to do. Cabello didn’t want to be interviewed for this column.

Other cops have been elected to the House or Senate and continued working for their local cop shops. But City Hall leaders say Cabello can’t work because they don’t know what the word “compensation” means in the state constitution.

“Does compensation apply to health care, pension benefits, vacation, sick leaves? There’s a mess of things that are compensation, but I don’t know whether they offend the constitution or not,” said Patrick Hayes, the city’s legal director.

Rockford not having home rule complicates the matter, he said. The state firefighters union lobbied the Legislature to write a special law to erase home rule as an excuse to deny the right to work to firefighters in the Legislature; the police unions haven’t had as much clout.

“If the Legislature adjourns May 31, (Cabello) would be available to work in June. But if it comes back, and he works and get pension benefit accrual, vacation and health benefits for the entire month, is that compensation?” Hayes said, admitting that his interpretation of the constitutional language is “conservative.”

Whenever state law is considered murky, it’s wise to seek a written opinion from the Illinois attorney general. But the city has not done that, Hayes said. Some lawmakers are seeking such an opinion, said Terry Peterson, head of Unit 6 of the PB&PA, which represents Rockford police officers.

Sean Smoot, legal director of the Illinois Police Benevolent & Protective Association, doesn’t see the constitutional language as a barrier to Cabello’s working. And Smoot doesn’t believe that being a community without home rule is a barrier, either. The city and the local PB&PA could resolve the issue in a day, he said. People should not lose their rights when they participate in the political process.

Here’s my opinion. An employee’s compensation is everything provided to that person by the employer. It includes pay and all the fringe benefits Hayes talked about. All the city has to do is not compensate Cabello for the days he’s in Springfield. Estimate the dollar value of his benefits for those days and deduct it.

If I were mayor of Rockford, I would want all the legislative help I could get from my local delegation in Springfield. And if I were the employer of one of those lawmakers, I’d know that I would be less likely to get his help by denying him the right to work based on a flimsy “What if this happens? What if that happens? What if that other thing happens?” interpretation of the constitution.

Cabello is independent-minded. He should be. But if I were mayor, I would try really hard to not make a bitter enemy out of a local lawmaker who’s going to be re-elected.

But then, I’m not the mayor.

You know, I really do love Rockford. But as the song says, love hurts.